Fastener



p 1 c M. CARMAN, JR v 2,851,038

' FASTENER Filed July 21, 1953 INVENTOR.

ayi CHARLES M. CARMA N, JR.

" atent Claims. (Cl. 129-41) This invention relates to fasteners whichare commonly used to bind papers in a file, particularly those fastenershaving spaced prongs which pass through perforations 1n the papers andwhich are bent and bound against the stack of papers by a form of keeperor keepers.

One object of this invention is to provide keepers suitable for bindingdown prongs manufactured either of metal, as in the conventionalfastener, or of other materials, such as certain plastics which havestrengths comparable to those of metals and flexibilities and bendinglives superior to those of metals, and which have costs lower than thoseof metals.

Another object of this invention is to provide keepers which may at alltimes be left combined in a single unit with the prongs and base, thusavoiding the hazard of misplacing the keeper and eliminating severaltime-consuming hand motions and fatiguing mental coordinations requiredof operators of conventional fasteners.

Another object of this invention is to provide a fastener of the utmostsimplicity, both in manufacture and operation, and of neat and pleasingappearance.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will emerge more clearlyin the following description, with reference to the accompanyingdrawing, in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of the primary embodiment of thisinvention, showing the left prong and keeper closed to bind a stack ofpapers, and the right prong and keeper opened to a position ready toimpale fresh sheets of paper.

Figure 2 is a plan view of a keeper.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the longitudinal medial line ofthe primary embodiment of this invention, showing how the prongs arelocked in closed position by the keepers, and how the free ends of theprongs may be concealed and held flat beneath the top layer or layers ofpapers.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates the. base of the fastener, at theends of which the spaced prongs 2 are established to normally projectupwards through the perforations 3 of a stack of papers 4. Each prong isthreaded through the apertures 5 of a keeper 6, which serves to span theorifice of the well of perforations and prevent the papers from slidingoff the prongs when the fastener is in a closed and binding position,and which by friction locks itself at a fixed position on the prong, butwhich when the fastener is in an open position comes into longitudinalalignment with the prong, allowing papers to be removed or added to thefile.

Each keeper is formed with two apertures, and may be formed of metalWire bent to the shape of a figure eight, as in Figure 2, with theapertures left unclosed at the free ends of the wire near the transversemedial line of the keeper, but with the tips 7 of the wire bent at anangle inward toward the longitudinal medial line of the keeper andtoward the center portion 8 of the keeper; in a manner that the inwardsurfaces of the bends 9 are each transversely opposite to acorresponding inward surface of a bend 10 at the end of the centerportion 8;

the inward surfaces of the bends 9 and 10, the tips 7 and the centerportion 8 acting all together to form bearing surfaces for assisting inlooking the keeper in a fixed position on the prong when the fastener isin a closed and binding position; the tips 7 being of sufficient lengthto prevent the keeper from rotating in its own plane and becoming thusdisengaged from the prong of the fastener; the length of thekeeper'overall being suflicient to span the well of perforations in thestack of papers; the width of the keeper being small enough to permitthe keeper to be inserted through any of the perforations of the papers;and the thickness of the keeper being as small as possible consistentwith adequate strength.

In assembling the keeper on the prong, the free end of the prong may bethreaded first upward through that aperture of the keeper which liesclosest to the transverse medial line of the fastener when the keeper ishorizontal in the approximate position it would occupy as part'o-f theclosed and binding fastener, this aperture being hereinafter known asthe inside aperture. Thence the free end of the prong may be threadeddownward through,

that aperture of the keeper which lies farthest fromthe transversemedial line of the fastener when the keeper is in said position, thisaperture being known hereinafter as the outside aperture. Thence thefree end of the prong may be doubled back and threaded again, downward,through the inside aperture. The prongs and keepers may be left thusassembled when the fastener is in an open position ready for theimpaling of papers, and the doubled portions 12 and 13 of the prongs may.be given a sharp crease 16, to facilitate said impaling,

at the point of natural fold between the portions 12 and s 13, which isdetermined when the free ends 11 ofthe prongs lie flat, spanning thewells of perforations in the papers, so that the tips 14 of the prongsproject inward of the inward edges of the perforations. With the freeends of the prongs in said position, the point of natural fold where thecrease 16 will be made will vary only according to the thickness of thestack of papers, but for any given thickness the free ends of the prongswill be in position to underlie the freshly-impaled sheet or sheets ofpaper, and the fastener may then be closed to binding position simply bypushing the portions 13 of the prongs in an inward direction, in amanner that the free ends of the prongs delve their paths inwardly,concealed from view and held flat beneath the topmost sheet or sheets ofpaper, and in a manner that the keepers, carried inwardly by the rollingfolds between the portions 12 and 13 of the prongs, ride over theperforations 3, span them, and come into locking position.

The free ends of the prongs may be flared at the points 15 on thelongitudinal edges of the prongs, in a manner that the distancelongitudinally from the tip 14 of a prong to the nearest flare 15 isgreater than the diameter of the perforations in the papers, and in amanner that the width of the flared portion of the prong p near its freeend is greater than the width of the apertures of the keeper, but lessthan the diameter of the perforations of the papers and less than thelength of the apertures of the keepers. Thus, to open the fastener, itis only necessary to pull upwardly and outwardly on the portions 13 ofthe prongs until the keepers are carried outwardly by the flares 15 to aposition where the inward ends of the keepers are outward of the outwardedges of the perforations and until the tips 14 of the keepers emergethrough the perforations from beneath the topmost sheet or sheets ofpaper. Then, if the portions 13 of the prongs are released, they willspring inwardly, until the point of natural fold between the portions 12and 13 corresponds with the crease 16 and the free ends of the prongsride over the wells of perforations, span them, and come to rest withthe tips 14 pro- Fatented Sept. 9, 1955 nate in an edge oblique to thelongitudinal edges of the prongs, in order that they may tend to-shearaway-from one another and from the bodies of the opposite prongs duringtheclosing operation. of any suitable bendable material and of anysuitable length, but preferably of a length that, when the fastener' isin a closed and binding position, the tips 14 will not. projectoutwardly of the outward edges of the stack of papers.

It will be understood that my description has been illustrative ratherthan restrictive, and that many details may be changed or modifiedwithout departing from the spirit or scope of my invention. I do notdesire to be restricted to the exact details of construction describedexcept as limited by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with a stack of papershaving aligned openingsproviding at least one bore, a fastener comprising a base larger thanany of said openings, at least.

one flexible elongated prong extending from said base, said prong beingdimensioned for insertion through said bore for extension from a side ofsaid stack, and an elongated fiat rigid keeper having longitudinallyspaced apertures, each of said apertures being dimensioned widthwise ofsaid keeper for slidably receiving said prong, each of said apertureshaving a dimension lengthwise of said keeper at least as great as thedimension of said aperture widthwise of said keeper, said apertures ineach keeper being spaced apart for a dimension substantially equal tothe thickness of said flat keeper, said keeper being dimensioned inwidth for insertion through said bore with said prong and beingdimensioned in length for spanning said bore, said prong being threadedthrough one of said apertures and being reversely folded through anotherof said apertures for slidably mounting said keeper upon said prong withthe length of said keeper parallel, to they length of said prong andfunctioning to orient said keeper inspanning relation across said boreat said stack side upon sliding of said keeper upon. said prong to saidstack side.

2. A fastener for a stack of papersor the like having aligned openingsproviding at least one bore comprising, a base larger than any of saidopenings, at, least one flexible elongated prong extending from. saidbase, said prong being dimensionedfor insertion through said bore for.extension of a free end of said prong from. a side of said stack, and anelongated flat rigid keeper. formed with. longitudinally spacedapertures, each of said apertures being dimensioned widthwise of saidkeeper for slidably receiving said prong with the length of said keeperparallel to the length of said prong,.each of said apertures beingsubstantially elongated in a direction lengthwise of said keeper, thespacing between said apertures in each keeper being of a dimensionsubstantially less than the dimension of each aperture widthwise of saidkeeper, said keeper being dimensioned in.

width for insertion through said openings with said prong and beingdimensioned inlength for spanning said openings, the arrangement ofsaidapertures and. the threading of said prong therethrough functioning todispose said keeper fiat against said stack side and. in spanningrelation across said bore thereat when said keeper is dis- The prongsmaybe-madeplaced on said prong into engagement with said stack side,said free end of said prong being enlarged to a dimension greater thanthe width but less than the length of any of said apertures forcontingently retaining said keeper on said prong.

3. A fastener for a stack of papers or the like having aligned openingsproviding a pair of transversely spaced ,bores comprising, a baseadapted for mounting on one side of said stack between said bores andhaving flexible elongated prongs dimensioned for insertion through saidbores for extension from the, opposite side of said stack, and anelongated flat rigid keeper slidably mounted on each of said prongsdimensioned in width for insertion through one of said bores and inlength for spanning one of said bores, each of said keepers having firstand second apertures arranged between first and second ends and anintermediate portion, each of said apertures being dimensioned widthwiseof said keeper of a dimension substantially equal to the width of one ofsaid prongs and being substantially elongated lengthwise of said keeper,the spacing between said apertures in each keeper being of a dimensionsubstantially equal to the thickness of said fiat keeper, each of saidprongs being inserted through said first aperture of one of said keepersand folded over said intermediate portion and reversely folded throughsaid second aperture and around said second end and returned throughsaid first aperture and under said first end with the free end of saidprong projecting in the direction of the other prong, said free endportions being formed with complementary oblique termini cooperatingupon. engagement to urge said end portions away from. one another uponcontact.

4. A fastener as described in claim 3 in which the free endof each prongis enlarged to a dimension greater than'the width but less than thelength of any of said apertures.

5. A fastener for a stack of papers or the like having aligned openingsproviding a pair of spaced bores comprising, a base adapted for mountingon one side of said stack, a pair of flexible elongated prongs spacedfor insertion through said bores and extending from said base, each ofsaid prongs being dimensioned in width for insertion through arespective one of said bores, and. an. elongated fiat rigid keeper foreach of said prongs, each of said keepers being dimensioned 'in widthfor insertion through a respective one of said References Cited in thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 14,974 Grant Nov. 2, 1920349,993 Hamilton Sept. 28, 1886 501,308 Whiting July 11, 1893 2,105,836Lang Jan. 18, 1938 2,253,464 Spector Aug. 19, 1941 2,468,072 InnacelliApr. 26, 1949

